Thursday, October 22, 2009

10 of the World's Greatest Jobs

Paradise island caretaker

Ben Southall, 34, of Petersfield, beat out nearly 35,000 applicants from around the world for the dream assignment to swim, explore and relax on Hamilton Island in the Great Barrier Reef, while writing a blog to promote the area. He was selected for the $111,000 gig - a six-month contract to serve as caretaker of a tropical Australian island. He now has to live rent-free in a three-bedroom villa, complete with pool.

Before getting the job he had to spend four days on the island for an extended interview process, which required applicants to snorkel through crystalline waters, gorge themselves at a beachside barbecue and relax at a spa. He also had to demonstrate his blogging abilities, take swimming tests and sit through in-person interviews. (Link)


Luxury bed tester

A student from Birmingham City University has landed her dream job...literally! Sleeping on the job and having a lie-in will no longer be a problem for a girl, who has been selected to test out luxury beds for a month and get paid for it.

Roisin Madigan, 22, is earning £1,000 to sleep in designer beds every day for a month. The student is helping with a "sleep survey" carried out by luxury bed specialists Simon Horn Ltd. The company sells luxury Savoir Beds, originally made for the Savoy Hotel. General manager Craig Roylance said Roisin will not only provide an objective view of the beds on sale, but will also be part of a look into what brings a good night's sleep. She will spend 10am to 6pm in beds in the company's showroom in Edgbaston, and then will blog about her experiences. (Link | Photo)


Resort waterslide tester

Surely the envy of any desk-bound office worker, Tommy Lynch has travelled over 27,000 miles this year for his job, testing holiday resort waterslides. Mr Lynch, 29, works for holiday giant First Choice, checking the height, speed, water quantity and landing of the flumes, as well as all safety aspects. In 2008 Mr Lynch tested waterslides at holiday villages in Lanzarote, Majorca, Egypt, Turkey, Costa Del Sol, Cyprus, Algarve, Dominican Republic and Mexico. This year he will quality control First Choice's new splash resorts in Greece, Turkey, Florida, Jamaica and Ibiza.

Liverpool-born Mr Lynch, whose job title is lifestyle product development manager, was recruited to identify the very best pools to be featured in First Choice's new Splash Resort collection. He also ensures potential new resorts are up to the company's standard. (Link)


Professional prostitute tester

Jaime Rascone is no different than the rest of us in that the erstwhile DJ needs to grab the occasional odd job to make ends meet. But the Chilean lothario has beat all of us by holding the type of fantasy job that just sounds too good to be true: Quality Control in a brothel.
Rascone, an occasional male model and DJ, first happened upon Fiorella Companions in Santiago, Chile while working on a story about the country's sexual revolution. He was offered the gig by Madam Fiorella, who needed somebody to provide that final “interview” in her hiring process. It goes like this: girls who are interested in working as VIP escorts for Fiorella have to undergo interviews, psychological testing, and a photo session. The applicants are whittled down to a final six, who are then fucked one after the other in a single day by Jaime. He takes diligent notes on, say, how they moved their hips and whether their groans were adequate, and makes recommendations to the madam. There is even paperwork involved. The strain of the job is actually such that he can only do it once a month, testing around seventy girls or so a year. (Link 1 | Link 2)



Wine tester and blogger

Imagine moving to the heart of Sonoma County, where every day you'll come home to more than 450 wineries along the beautiful northern coast of California. Picture living rent free, learning the intricacies of making the perfect wine, and capturing and sharing the entire experience for your network of Twitter followers. Now imagine getting paid $10,000 a month to do it. Listening? Hardy Wallace of Atlanta, the first person to submit his application, was the winner for the position at Murphy-Goode Winery— a $10,000 p/mo for six months, rent-free job updating Twitter and Facebook with his winery lifestream. The interview process was simple: submit a YouTube video explaining why you would be good for the job and wait to see what happens.



Candy taster

Another one of the world's best job has gone to schoolboy Harry Willsher, 12, chief taster in a sweet factory. Harry's job is to test top secret recipes. He got the job after winning a contest at Swizzell's Matlow to find a recruit. According to him, after his first tour at his new job, he felt like having tepped into the book Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. He wowed judges by describing the flavor and smell of his favourite sweet, the Drumstick lolly. The Derby firm, which also makes Love Hearts, Rainbow Drops and Parma Violets, has now given the youngster chief taster overalls and businesscards. As well as sampling the sweets, he will also monitor their development at the company's factory in New Mills, Derbyshire. I don't know if it's the best job, but it's definitely the sweetest. (Link 1 | Link 2)


Condom tester

An Australian manufacturer called for applications for what it claims could be the world's best job - condom tester. Durex marketing manager Sam White was hiring Australians over the age of 18 who could apply for one of 200 positions as a condom tester. Unfortunately the position is not paid, but successful applicants would receive a free $60 selection of Durex products and will be required to provide the company with honest feedback about the products' performance. One of the lucky 200 testers would win a $1000 bonus. Maybe the bonus is not that great, but one thing's for sure - it's a job where employees won't mind taking their work home and burning the midnight oil. We are sorry to inform you applications are closed.(Link 1 | Link 2)


World of Warcraft Tester

Do you Play World of Warcraft? And if so, do you play well? Can you farm 200 gold an hour and hit level 80 in under 2 weeks? If the answer is yes, you can apply for the job that about 12 million players only dream about, as a Wow game tester! There are in fact several Blizzard jobs posted on their website. The Blizzard employment database has dozens of mmorpg jobs available, mostly WoW employment opportunities. They are currently hiring for several game tester positions for World of Warcraft, under the QA department. They are in particular looking for foreign language testers, so if you speak any other language besides English, don't hesitate to apply to start your Blizzard career. And, yeah, you will be required to play at least four hours a day. (Link 1 | Link 2)


Director of Fun at a museum (age 6)

A six-year-old boy who wanted to become the director of York's National Railway Museum landed himself a job - as the director of fun. The ambitious youngster got a plum role at the National Railway Museum after applying to replace retiring boss Andrew Scott. Sam Pointon sent a handwritten letter headed "Application for director" asking for an interview at the centre, in York. The letter listed his credentials for the role, including his expertise on his train set. "I am only six but I think I can do this job," wrote Sam. "I have an electrick (sic) train track. I am good on my train track. I can control two trains at once." Staff was so impressed they appointed Sam an honorary "Director of Fun" and his job will be to bosses how he thinks they can ensure the museum is the most fun place for kids to spend a day out.

Ok, maybe this isn't the best job in the world for an adult, but it certainly rocks the world of a 6 year old. (Link)


Bike rider-photographer for Google Maps

Google (GOOG) has hired two lucky young men to ride around France on dopey looking tricycles snapping up photos of historical sites that are inaccessible by car. This three-wheeler is a sight with its long pole holding nine cameras, a GPS, a computer and a generator. But the contraption tooling around the French capital needs all that gear to do its job – adding three-dimensional images to Google's Street View Maps.

The riders, wearing Google tee-shirts and white helmets, are visiting well-known sites such as the Chateau de Versailles, west of Paris, the Jardin du Luxembourg on the city's Left Bank or Les Halles, in the busy centre of the French capital. (Link)

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Biggest Dogs In The World











Unique World Records

Amazing Guinness World Records

Here’s a list of the most unique world records recognized internationally, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world. Until 2000, the Guinness World Records was known as the Guinness Book of Records and it is the best-selling copyrighted series of all-time. The interesting fact is that it is one of the most stolen books from public libraries in the United States.



Tommy Pastemante from the USA sets the fastest Speed on a Modified Lawnmower (61 mph).




Thousands of Michael Jackson’s Mexican fans have won the world record for most people to dance to the song “Thriller” simultaneously in one place. Jamie Panas of Guinness World Records says that 13,597 people performed the dance routine on Aug. 29, which would have been Jackson’s 51st birthday.




The world's tallest man, Sultan Kosen from Turkey, poses for photographers next to school children at an event in London to promote the Guinness World Records 2010 book. Kosen, who is 2m 46.5cm (8ft 1in) tall, also claims the record for the largest hands and largest feet.



Scott Murphy recently set a Guinness World Record for The Tightest Circumference to Roll a 12 Inch Aluminum Frying Pan by Hand in 30 Seconds - 6.87 inches. Scott Murphy accomplished this on July 30th, 2007 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.



Sam Wakeling holds the current Guinness World Record for unicycle distance in 24 hours: 281.85 miles (453.6km)



35,310 Lego Star Wars Clone Troopers in the UK.



A Maine man and his collection of 1,094 clocks.



The longest skis are 534 m (1,751 ft 11 in) long and were worn by 1,043 skiers in an event organized by Danske Bank on Drottninggatan in Örebro, Sweden, on 13 September 2008.



The fastest ride on a skateboard - Douglas da Silva from Brazil with amazing 70.2 mph (113 km/h).



The longest ears on a dog measured 34.9 cm (13.75 in) and 34.2 cm (13.5 in) for the right and left ears, respectively, on September 29, 2004. They belong to Tigger, a bloodhound, who is owned by Bryan and Christina Flessner of St Joseph, Illinois, USA.



Anthony Victor (India) has hair sprouting from the centre of his outer ears (middle of the pinna) that measures 18.1 cm (7.12 in) at its longest point.



Bigfoot #5 First monster truck solely designed to use 10' tall tires - 1986 Guinness Book of Records - World's biggest pickup truck - 2002



Garry Turner, of Caistor, Lincolnshire, England, stretched the skin of his stomach to a distended length of 15.8 cm (6.25 in) on the set of Guinness World Records: Primetime in Los Angeles, California, USA, on October 29, 1999.




The largest known land gastropod is the African giant snail achatina achatina, the largest recorded specimen of which measured 39.3cm (15.5in) from snout to tail when fully extended, with a shell length of 27.3cm (10.75in) and weighed exactly 900g (2lb)



Surrey resident Sarwan Singh achieved a feat, which every Sikh is going to be proud of. He set a new Guinness Book of World Record by having the longest beard. Singh’s beard was measured at 2.36 meters or 7.7 3/4 ft, at a jam packed, Akal Academy in Surrey BC, on November 11, 2008.



The Space Cowboy (real name: Chayne Hultgren), Lo Show Dei Record performer, set a world record of the longest distance pulling 400 kg by fishhooks in his eye sockets in Milan on April, 25, 2009



The record for the heaviest vehicle pulled over a level 100ft (30.48m) course weighed 57,243kg (126,200lb) and was set by the Rev Kevin Fast, from Canada.



Turkish man squirts milk from eye 9.2 feet



The heaviest apple was found in Japan - 1,849 kg.



The shortest known mobile living adult is He Pingping, who was measured by a team of doctors in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China, and found to be 74.61cm (2ft 5.37in) 36-year-old Svetlana Pankratova from Russia has the longest legs in the world. Although not the tallest woman in the world, Pankratova is 6.43 feet tall and her legs measure 4.33 feet.


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